Sharp exit the U.S. market back in 2015 when the company’s financial troubles put its very existence in doubt. The company later received financial backing from Hon Hai Precision, the company that’s better known as Foxconn. A lot has changed since then and the Japanese firm has now announced that it will once again start selling its smart TVs in the United States.

Sharp has announced that it has formed a new partnership with Hisense International which will see the company re-enter the television business in the United States after the second half of this year.

A suspicious flying object was seen hovering in the sky near the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Monday night. There were similar sightings last week. Police say the object may have been a drone, even though it is illegal to fly drones in the area.

Police officers spotted the flying object while they were patrolling a park in Chiyoda Ward, near the Palace. They say the object had flashing white lights.

TOKYO — Japanese prosecutors indicted Carlos Ghosn on Monday on another charge of aggravated breach of trust, a Tokyo court said, the fourth charge against the former Nissan Motor Co Ltd chairman, which his lawyers met immediately with a bail request. The charge came on the day Ghosn's latest detention period was set to expire. Ghosn had been out on bail when authorities arrested him for a fourth time on April 4 on suspicion he enriched himself at a cost of $5 million to the automaker. "We are confident that we have the evidence to successfully prosecute all four cases," an official from the prosecutor's office said at a briefing after the indictment was announced. Ghosn has denied all four of the charges, which include understating his income, and said he is the victim of a boardroom coup. He has accused former colleagues of "backstabbing," describing them as selfish rivals bent on derailing a closer alliance between Nissan and its top shareholder, France's Renault SA. "Carlos Ghosn is innocent of the latest charges brought against him by the Tokyo prosecutors, aided and abetted by certain Nissan conspirators," a Ghosn representative said in a statement. The case has exposed tensions in the Nissan-Renault alliance forged by Ghosn some two decades ago when the French automaker invested in Nissan, then on the brink of bankruptcy — a deal that gave Renault control over its larger partner. Nissan is due to reject a management integration proposal from Renault and will instead call for an equal capital relationship, the Nikkei newspaper said on Monday, citing sources. Ghosn's arrest has also focused a harsh light on Japan's judicial system, which critics refer to as "hostage justice" as defendants who deny their charges are often not granted bail. Under Japanese law, prosecutors are able to hold suspects for up to 22 days without charge and interrogate them without their lawyers present. In accordance with these terms, prosecutors had to indict or release Ghosn by Monday. According to the latest indictment, Ghosn caused a total of $5 million in losses to Nissan from July 2017 through July 2018. During that period, prosecutors allege two separate payments of $5 million were made from the account of a Nissan subsidiary into the account of an overseas dealership. A total of $5 million was subsequently transferred from the dealership's account to another account in which Ghosn had an interest. Nissan said it had filed a criminal complaint against the former chairman in relation to the matter, saying it had determined that some of its overseas payments had been ordered by Ghosn for his personal enrichment. The payments were "not necessary from a business standpoint," Nissan said in a statement. "Such misconduct is completely unacceptable, and Nissan is requesting appropriately strict penalties." A court would likely rule on the bail request on Tuesday, Ghosn's lead lawyer, Junichiro Hironaka, told reporters. Before Ghosn's latest arrest, he had been out on $9 million bail for 30 days. He is now being held in the same Tokyo detention center where he was detained for 108 days following his initial arrest on the tarmac at a Tokyo airport in November. Kyodo news agency previously reported, without citing sources, that Nissan funds had been shifted through a car dealer in Oman to the account of a company Ghosn effectively owned. Sources have previously told Reuters that Renault had alerted French prosecutors after uncovering payments it deemed suspect to a partner in Oman. Evidence sent to French prosecutors showed much of the cash was channeled to a Lebanese company controlled by associates of Ghosn, who holds Lebanese citizenship, the sources told Reuters. Ghosn's French lawyer denied the allegations.

As we noted our piece earlier today about the CX-5 diesel, we've been waiting for Mazda to bring its Skyactiv-D engines to market for years. Tripped up by an emissions certification nightmare that caused delays and resulted in lackluster power and fuel economy numbers, they're late to the party. In the CX-5 diesel, it's also a questionable proposition at almost $4,000 more than the much more powerful CX-5 Turbo. But today, Mazda's U.S. president confirmed to Autoblog that the diesel engine would make its way into the 6.

Like the CX-5, it'll only be offered with all-wheel drive and only on the top Signature trim level. Unlike the CX-5 diesel, which goes on sale in July, we don't know when the Skyactiv-D-powered 6 will go on sale. But it seems like later this year is a good bet. How much longer can Mazda wait, really, once the CX-5 diesel is on sale?

The Japan Meteorological Agency says the average density of carbon dioxide in the air over the country hit a record-high level last year at all fixed-observation points.

The agency has been monitoring CO2 density in the atmosphere at three sites in Japan: Ofunato City in northeastern Honshu, westernmost Yonaguni Island in Okinawa Prefecture, and easternmost Minamitorishima island in the Pacific.

Two years ago, Nissan called back certain 2015-2017 Altima sedans in the United States over a very serious concern: rear doors that could open without any warning while the vehicle was on the move. Now, they're recalling the exact same batch, because of the same problem.

I drove the 2019 Acura NSX on track a while back, and it's an absolute freight train. But now that I've driven it in the snow and the rain and our pothole-riddled streets around Southeast Michigan, I can tell you about what it's like to live with the Japanese supercar.

Our tester was painted in gorgeous Casino White pearl. It's a stunner in this color, highlighting the NSX's proper supercar styling – impressions were reinforced by the constant stares and craned necks over a cold November weekend. All $21,600 of carbon fiber exterior parts (several carbon packages combined) probably didn't contribute a whole lot to this, but man does it look cool up close. Updates to the 2019 car consist mostly of more suspension and tire to give it the edge it was missing before. Stiffer stabilizer bars, rear toe link bushings and re-tuned magnetorheological dampers do the bulk of the work. A complete recalibration of the steering and SH-AWD system ties it all together, and boy does it work wonders.

US President Donald Trump, who has just begun a state visit to Japan, says trade between the two countries can be made fairer.Trump attended a dinner with Japanese and US business leaders at the US Ambassador's residence after arriving at Tokyo's Haneda Airport on Saturday.

A strong earthquake has struck eastern Japan. The Japan Meteorological Agency says the quake occurred in and around Chiba Prefecture near Tokyo. Hardest hit areas registered an intensity of 5 minus on the Japanese scale of 0 to 7.The magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck southern Chiba at 3:20 p.m. on...more

Tokyo police are beefing up security ahead of the state visit of US President Donald Trump. They are deploying a record number of officers for any visiting US president.Trump is due to arrive at Tokyo's Haneda Airport on Saturday evening. He will stay for four days.

The VIP room of a Japanese government plane that was taken out of service in March has been shown to the media for the first time.The Boeing 747 was used by prime ministers, Emperor Emeritus Akihito and Empress Emerita Michiko for 26 years from 1993.

All Nippon Airways debuted flights of a double-decker Airbus A380 from Narita Airport north of Tokyo, bound for Hawaii on Friday.The aircraft is one of the largest in the world, measuring 72 meters long and two stories high along its entire length. It has 520 seats -- more than double the average...more

In this week's Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Associate Editor Joel Stocksdale and Assistant Editor Zac Palmer. They kick off the podcast discussing the cars they've been driving in the office including the 2019 Buick Regal TourX, 2019 Honda Civic Touring, 2020 Kia...more